Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

THQ WQrld Supercross GP/AMA Super B6 Series Round 12/1 1 : Edward .Jones Dome (Right) Ryan Clark used the break in the series to re-evaluate his program and came out swinging. He finished eighth and is now sixth in the GP points race. (Far right) Nick Wey recorded yet another top-five finish in the Edward Jones Dome. He did it coming from behind again, too. Edward Jones Dome Stlouis, Missouri Results: March 22, 2003 [Round lUll) HEAT I (8 laps, 1-4 to main): 1. Chad Reed (Yam); 2. Travis Preston (Hon); 3. Nick Wey (Yam); 4. Ernesto Fonseca (Hon); 5. Larry Ward (Hon); 6. Ryan Clark (Yllm); 7. Clark Stiles (Hon); 8. Greg Schnell (Yam); 9. Jason Thomas (Han); 10. Joseph Oehlhof (Han); 11. Doug DeHaan (Han); 12. Jimmy Wilson (Yam); 13. Kris Papworth (Kaw); 14. Eddie Ray (Han); 15. Thomas Hofmaster (Yam): 16. Barry Carsten (Suz); 17. Tyson Hadsell (Yam); lB. Scott Me.. (KTM). Time: 6 min.. 48.615 sec. Margin of victory: 10.413 sec. HEAT 2 (8 laps. 1-4 to main): I. Ricky Carmichael (Hon); 2. Ezra Lusk (Kaw); 3. Danny Smith (Suz); 4. Sean Hamblin (Suz); 5. Heath Voss (Yam); 6. Keith Johnson (Yam); 7. Joshua Woods (KTM); B. Brian Moson (Yam); 9. Hans Neel (KTM); 10. Casey Lytle (Yam); 11. CUnton Shealy (Su,); 12. my Own Race: 250cc ®® Sean Hamblin 7th Sean Hamblin's not going anywhere. The 125cc Westem Regional campaigner has been reassigned to the SoBe Suzuki 250cc team for the rest of the season. Rain during the week off preveoted him from practicing in Califomia, and he arrived in St. Louis out of sorts. "I just kind of didn't get the flow going tonight. Didn't find my rhythm," Hamblin said. Fifth on the first lap, Hamblin fell back to seventh then moved up to sixth before getting passed by Mach 1 Yamaha's Nick Wey on the 13th of 20 laps. "I'm happy with seventh. I definitely need to be in the top five at all times. This is still a lot of learning experience for me. I think next week will be even better." ~® Danny Smith 6th SeBe Suzuki's Smith got the holeshot and the $1500 that went with it. More important than the money was the position it put him in. Instead of working his way forward, he worked on consolidating his position. "I just concentrated real hard on the start... which made it a lot easier, and I rode strong for 15 laps: Smith said. Able to hold third until the 14th lap, Smith was passed on consecutive laps by Honda's Emesto Fonseca, MotoXXX Honda's Larry Ward, and Mach 1 Yamaha's Nick Wey. "The last five [laps], I made a few mistakes, and they only beat me by a little. If I could have just been a little stronger... but I got tired and lost it. It's still good experience." Smith said that he wasn't aggressive enough at the end. "In my spot you've got to fight for it. I should have been a lot tougher. When they started banging on me, I should've banged right back, but I didn't really have the opportunity - I'll know better next time." @cB Jason Thomas 10th Thomas, a relatively new addition to the Subway Honda team, took the long way into the main. The Floridian was in a position to transfer into the ma in out of his semi when he stalled on the final lap, forcing him into the LCQ, which he won. "' rode real tight, and (Clarki Stiles and Ryan Clark passed me, and I had a couple of guys right b~hind me - Joe [Oehlhof) was right behind me: Thomas said of the semi. "And I stalled_ I think I've stalled my bike twice in my life. and that was one of them.- In the main, his Subway teammate Oehlhof was a tum behind him until he made a mistake, leaving Thomas to work to stay in front of Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Ezra Lusk. "Ezra was probably three or four seconds behind me. I was a little nervous at first because he's usually so fast. But I had a mark on the track, and he wasn't really making up any time so I just kept doing what I was doing, and it all worked out." ~'fl Nick Wey 5th Mach 1 Yamaha's Wey fmished the first lap eighth, which wasn't bad, but he didn't take advantage of it. "I ended up getting a decent start - probably eighth or ninth - and kind of just didn't make the moves quick enough at the beginning: he said. '" got tangled up with Ezra {Lusk on the third lapl and that lost me quite a bit of time. And' spent maybe three or four laps trying to catch {Sean] Hamblin from then, and I just wish' could have got up there and got Larry Ward and Emie (Fonseca]." 10 APRIL2,2003' cue I e n e _ s 1] @ Larry Ward 4th ®'fl Ryan Clark 8th 1] 1] Ezra Lusk Tyler Evans (Suz); 13. Scott Davis (Suz); 14. Brandon Butler (Suz); 15. Mark Wundrack (Yam); 16. Taylor Watts (Yam); 17. Karsten Butler (Suz); 18. David Hill (Suz). Time: 6 min., 52.078 sec. Margin of victory: 11.761 sec. SEMI 1 (6 laps, 1-5 to main); 1. Larry Ward (Han); 2. Clark Stiles (Han); 3. Ryan Clark (Yam); 4. Injuries don't just happen on the racetrack. MotoXXX's Ward found that out after slicing his middle finger wide open on a fan. "Not bad for a guy with half a finger,' the veteran said after finishing fourth, the first nonfactory rider. Ward said he tried to catch the fan as it fell off of a friend's golf cart. "I got my finger caught in it, and it sliced the end of my finger to the bone in a couple of places.' The good news was that his team worked through the weekend to make his Honda CRF450R easier to ride. "We've been struggling a little bit all year, and this week, after Daytona, we learned something, and I was comfortable," Ward said. "I never changed one thing all weekend, every practice." SoUtaire's lone 250cc rider found a renewed sense of purpose coming into the last third of the season. "It's kind of rebound race for me, kind of moving back in the right direction after having a slump midseason," Clark said. In the main. Clark was away 13th then eased his way into the top 10, passing Mach 1 Yamaha's Heath Voss on the ninth lap to secure eighth. "At the beginning, I came out real strong, and it was kind of hard to maintain that being on the road, and' made a lot of really bad mistakes so just staying out and not going home and losing my routine. So , tried to refocus, and the last three or four races are building races for me." 11th Lusk was decked out in stars-and-stripes Thor gear in St. Louis, and the signs were good that Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's 250cc star would be strong in SI. Louis. The Georgian chased Ricky Carmichael in their heat race, finishing second. But the start of the main was his undoing. Away in 1] th, Lusk was on the move when he slid out on the third lap, dropping back to 16th and never fully recovering. "I got a bad start starting off, and I was coming through the pack pretty good, and I had that sUde out there after the fmish line and just kind of bent up my levers a little bit, and i couldn't get it back together, basically," he said. "Having the weekend off, I did a lot of outdoor riding. I think I was a little bit rusty this weekend, but it wiU be different next week." ~® Heath Voss 9th Mach 1 Yamaha's four-stroke pilot was lucky to fmish the race in relatively good health. A glitch in his kill switch caused his YZ450F to cut out midflight, the bike landing with a thud. His hands numb and ankle sprained, Voss soldiered on to finish ninth. "I had a great start, and I was fourth, and there's a couple of times I tried to pass Danny Smith, and then one lap I went over the triple, and my bike cut out for some reason, and I cased it so hard I thought I was going to die," Voss said. :And then after that I sprained my ankle, and both my hands were swollen up and my thumbs. I cased that thing hard. Thank God I didn't break my leg. I was seeing stars. Just tried to make the best of it. I'm really disappointed because there's no reason I couldn't have been third or fourth the way I was riding." Voss said that the bike cut out again, but "one nice thing about the four-stroke; when it cuts out, it still flies nice and level. The two-stroke, the front end dies.'

• Cover